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Update: Federal Funding for National History Day

Updating a story from earlier this week, Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Daniel Akaka (D-HI) have declined to bring to the floor for a vote their amendment (S.AMDT.3364), submitted last Thursday, which would have set aside $2 million in federal funds for “activities related to” National History Day. With Washington’s new sensitivity towards earmark appropriations, Coleman and Akaka decided federal funding for NHD would not happen after looking at “at the reality of the situation.” National History Day Director Cathy Gorn, in an e-mail to friends of National History Day, explained, “while NHD is not a traditional earmark, it is directed funding. Under the new definition of an earmark, it is an earmark. If you saw the amendments offered and voted on you’d actually see the vast majority were measures to strip earmarks (both traditional and directed funding) out of the bill. No senator wanted to be in a position to vote for an earmark.” Gorn expressed thanks to supporters of National History Day and stated that she believed 2008 “will be NHD’s year.”